The Loire Valley and especially Blois
We have left the Romantic Road and moved to the Neckar River. Ludwigsburg Residential Palace, which started off as a hunting lodge at the beginning of the 18th century is one of the largest Baroque buildings in Europe to survive in its original condition. Unfortunately, many of the rooms have been redecorated in the Neoclassical style. Nous …
Continue reading “Postcard from Germany – Residenzschloss Ludwigsburg”
The sun finally came out today just when we reached the little village of Wallerstein on the Romantic Road with its Plague or Holy Trinity monument (1722-25), based on the plague monument in Vienna by Joh. G. Bschorer, Perhaps you know it? Le soleil est enfin sorti aujourd’hui lorsque nous sommes arrivés dans le petit village …
Continue reading “Postcard from Germany – In Memory of the Black Plague”
Today we cycled around the little mediaeval Bavarian town of Dinkelsbühl and photograpahed all of its 16 towers. The photo below shows five at once. Aujourd’hui nous avons fait le tour de la petite ville médiévale de Dinkelsbühl en Bavière en vélo et avons photographié ses 16 tours. La photo ci-dessous montre cinq à la …
Continue reading “Postcard from Germany – Dinkelsbühl towers”
The Protestant church of Saint Ulrich in Augsburg is most unusual.. I’ve never seen this type of design or stucco ceiling before. Unfortunately, all the information is in German. It’s a pity about the modern benches. L’église protestante de Saint Ulrich est très originale. Je n’ai jamais vu ce type d’architecture intérieur ni de plafond en …
Continue reading “Postcard from Germany – St Ulrich in Augsburg”
The Rottenbuch Abbey in Bavaria (above) is one of the best examples of German baroque while Wies is one of its finest examples of rococo.. Rococo or “Late Baroque”, developed in the early 18th century in Paris as a reaction against the grandeur, symmetry, and strict rules of the Baroque, especially of the Palace of Versailles. The style of rococo …
Continue reading “Postcard from Germany – Baroque and Rococo”
I do not always remember the places I’ve been but I remember everything that I saw in Innsbruck five years ago and in particular the Golden Roof in the Old Town, completed in 1500 and decorated with 2,738 fire-gilded copper tiles for Emperor Maximilian I to mark his wedding to Bianca Maria Sforza. The Emperor and his …
TSanta Maria della Croce is a basilica on the outskirts of Crema in Lombardy built in the Lombard Renaissance style where an apparition of the Virgin Mary is said to have helped Caterina degli Uberti, a woman from Crema fatally wounded by her husband on 3 April 1490 (he cut off her hand and part of her arm …
Continue reading “Postcard from Italy – Santa Maria della Croce”
Riquiqui in French means small and stingy and I think that the new square next to Gabriel Bridge in Blois is exactly that. I can’t see why they have gone to such expense for so little … Riquiqui est ce qui vient à l’esprit lorsqu’on voit lelnouvel aménagement en face du pont Gabriel à Blois. …
The claim to fame of René Moreau (1587-1656), depicted on this monument in Montreuil-Bellay where he was born, and physician of Louis XIII and Louis XIV is to have introduced chocolate into France. La plus grande gloire de René Moreau (1587-1656), représenté sur ce moment à Montreuil-Bellay dont il est natif, médecin de Louis XIII …
Continue reading “The Father of French Chocolat – Le père du chocolat en France”
It never ceases to amaze me that the people who look after listed buildings in France allow this sort of thing to go on. This monstruosity is in Rue des Carmélites in Blois. The lovely little door below is just next to it. Je suis toujours étonnée que les monuments historiques permettent ce genre de …